KERNAN TOURS PRISONS, SEEKS REFORMS TO END CROWDING

Lawmakers Are Discussing Changes To Drug Sentences.

INDIANAPOLIS - Gov. Joe Kernan joined legislative leaders on a tour of two
state prisons Wednesday and urged lawmakers to discuss ways to ease
overcrowding that could include sentencing and parole reforms.

The governor toured a medium-security women's prison in Rockville and a
low-to medium-security men's prison in Putnamville, both in western
Indiana, to get a firsthand look at the crowding problem.

"We come today with no solutions but instead the idea that we can work
together, pool our resources and look for ways to impact the situation,"
Kernan said after returning to his Statehouse office.

Kernan was joined on the prison tours by Democratic House Speaker Pat
Bauer, Republican Senate President Pro Tem Bob Garton and Indiana Chief
Justice Randall Shepard.

Indiana prisons have room for about 16,000 inmates but are currently
holding nearly 23,000, Kernan said.

Kernan, a Democrat, wants lawmakers and prison officials to discuss ways to
reduce overcrowding. Those reforms could include revising the rules judges
must follow when sentencing criminals and changing some parole policies.

Bauer said long sentences for drug crimes were at least partially to blame
for the increase in inmate populations and suggested lawmakers consider
offering more discretion to judges to impose shorter sentences when
appropriate.

Bauer and Garton agreed the General Assembly should conduct a review of
regulations that sometimes require lengthy prison terms for possession of
relatively small amounts of illegal drugs.

"It may be time to revisit what the rush to judgment was starting about a
decade ago," Bauer said, referring to passage of harsher drug penalties in
the late 1980s and early 1990s. "I think that has to be on the table."

If existing sentencing guidelines are left in place, "we'll just have to
have a building program that we add two or three more prisons every year,
and that will become our economic-development program," Bauer said.

Kernan said he would rather not spend money on new prisons, preferring
instead to find cheaper alternatives that might permit some offenders to be
released early if they complete drug-treatment or education programs. He
said prison officials were reviewing the system used to classify inmates to
better assess whether some could be sent to community-based programs such
as work-release centers.

About 1,800 new beds are sitting unused at prisons in Miami County and New
Castle. The late Gov. Frank O'Bannon wanted to open those beds, but
lawmakers approved a budget last spring without any money to do so.

Kernan said he did not discuss that issue with legislative leaders
Wednesday but indicated the extra beds were among the ideas that could be
considered when lawmakers reconvene.